How to Select the nth Row in a SQL Server Database Table?

In SQL Server databases, it’s common to encounter scenarios where we need to retrieve a specific row, such as the nth row, from a table efficiently. Whether you’re building a pagination feature for a web application or analyzing data, having the ability to select a particular row based on its position in the table can be important.

In this article, We will learn about How to select the nth row in a SQL Server database table with the help of various methods along with the examples and so on.

How to Select the nth Row in SQL Server?

When working with SQL Server databases, it is common to encounter scenarios where we need to retrieve a specific row from a table, such as the nth row. This can be challenging due to the lack of built-in functions or direct methods in SQL Server to retrieve a specific row based on its position in the table. To address the problem of selecting the nth row in a SQL Server database table, the below approaches can be used are as follows:

1. Using OFFSET and FETCH
2. Using ROW_NUMBER() Function
3. Using TOP Clause with Ties

To understand How to select the nth row in a SQL Server we need a table on which we will perform various operations and queries. Here we will consider a table called Student_Records which contains Student_ID, First_Name, Address, Age, Percentage and Grade as Columns.

Student Records Table

1. Using OFFSET and FETCH

Using the OFFSET and FETCH clauses, which is one of the easiest ways to choose the Nth row in SQL Server. The OFFSET clause in SQL is used to skip a certain number of rows in the result set of a query. With the help of these clauses, we can retrieve a certain number of rows from the result set and skip a given number of rows.

Syntax:

SELECT * FROM Table_Name
ORDER BY Column_Name
OFFSET N-1 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY;

Example:

SELECT * FROM Student_Records
OFFSET 5 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY;

Output:

2. Using ROW_NUMBER() Function

Using the ROW_NUMBER() function in conjunction with a subquery or a common table expression (CTE) is an additional method. ROW_NUMBER is a function in database language Transact-SQL which assigns a unique sequential number to each row in the result set of a query. Using the given ordering as a guide, this method gives each row in the output set a distinct sequential integer.

Syntax:

WITH NumberedRows AS (
    SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY Column_Name) AS RowNum
    FROM Table_Name
)
SELECT *
FROM NumberedRows
WHERE RowNum = N;

Example:

WITH NumberedRows AS (
    SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY Percentage) AS RowNum
    FROM Student_Records)
SELECT * FROM NumberedRows
WHERE RowNum = 5;

Output:

SELECT using the ROW_NUMBER() function

3. Using TOP Clause with Ties

In SQL Server, we can also use the TOP clause in conjunction with the WITH TIES option to choose the Nth row. This method includes any more rows that have the same value as the Nth row in the prescribed order after choosing the top N rows.

Syntax:

SELECT TOP 1 WITH TIES *
FROM Table_Name
ORDER BY Column_Name;

Example:

SELECT TOP 1 WITH TIES *
FROM Student_Records
ORDER BY Percentage;

Output:

SELECT using TOP clause with TIES

Conclusion

Overall, selecting the nth row in a SQL Server database table can be achieved using different approaches, such as OFFSET and FETCH, ROW_NUMBER() function, and TOP clause with Ties. The choice of method depends on the specific requirements and performance considerations of the application. By understanding these approaches, developers can efficiently retrieve the desired rows from SQL Server database tables